These Business are Helping Detroit Thrive - YouTube

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Well, when I first visited, it was 2010,

and the city is unlike any city I'd been to.

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There was incredible devastation here.

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Detroit's also full of incredible beauty,

and resilient people, and incredible stories of

creativity and global influence.

If you're the right type of person for it,

it makes you want to do something.

It's an inspiring place, definitely.

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Detroit has always had the fire of creativity

burning in its belly.

It was the birthplace of auto assembly lines,

which would become the pulsing artery that

powered American industry.

The hands that built Detroit didn't stop there;

they crafted culture, too.

Some of the most influential genres of music can

trace their roots to the Motor City.

Detroit has also faced adversity.

Gutted by decades of industrial and financial change,

the city declared bankruptcy in 2013,

but that hasn't kept Detroit and its people down.

Today, construction is booming,

and fresh talent is continuing to help reimagine

the city's tradition of manufacturing.

So, why would entrepreneurs choose to do business here,

in Detroit, And Nowhere Else?

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Manufacturing is in the blood of the people of Detroit.

Zak Pashak of Detroit Bikes, saw an opportunity to use

the remnants of the manufacturing industry:

a trained and willing workforce.

We made the first Detroit Bikes prototypes in this garage.

One of the best things about doing business in Detroit

is that it's an incredibly supportive business climate.

Whether it's a restaurant, or a barber shop,

or whatever it is, it's kind of

what people are talking about.

I think people just want to see each other succeed.

It's really nice that way.

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Does everything work on that one?

- So far. - Alright.

I got really interested in transportation policy and

the way that people lived in cities,

and it became clear to me that cycling was something

that would continue to grow, and I thought,

hey, maybe if there was a really cool bike with a

really cool back story, that might help get

some more people riding bikes.

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This is our 50,000 square foot factory.

It's the largest bike manufacturer

in the United States.

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We're very different from most bike companies.

American bike brands typically are just buying a bike

from a Chinese factory and then putting their logo on it.

But we're actually manufacturing here in the States.

It's the people here, from the city,

making these bikes. You know,

it's the design that's gone into it, the production...

There's a whole lot of blood, sweat, and tears in that bike.

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At the most, with both of our lines going,

we've had as many as 75 individuals

at one time working here.

It's a lot of activity, a lot of machining, a lot of...

things being put together.

Henry Ford II is a bike mechanic and cycling enthusiast.

He's also one of the founders of the Slow Roll,

which is this thing that blew up and is,

it's got thousands of people coming every week

to explore the city on two wheels.

So, he was one of the first employees we had here.

This is our paint department.

We take pride in our paint process in order to replicate

the automotive industry and their quality, as well.

This is motor capital of the world,

but most people don't know, this also used to be the

bicycle manufacturing capital of the world.

The automotive manufacturing started by

making bicycles, as well.

So, to bring that back and still look forward,

is a pretty awesome thing.

Trying to do 40 bikes in a day,

and every weld I put into it,

I'm trying to get better and better with it.

And, I've stopped a couple people there, like,

"Hey, I built your bike." They're like, "What?"

I'm like, "Yeah, I more than likely

welded that frame for you." Like, "Oh, that's cool."

I'm from a family of manufacturing,

so to continue that is something I'm really proud of.

You know, I get a similar feeling on what they felt like

when they see the vehicles that they worked on

that are next to them on their, on their highway.

I get to see a Detroit Bike every once in a while.

Every time I get a chance, I always congratulate them

and say, "Nice bike." Every time.

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We also have a retail store downtown and I describe that

as sort of being like the gift shop to the factory.

That gives us sort of a community presence.

You meet some unique people down here that all have a

really good story, and now it just seems

everybody wants a bicycle in Detroit.

I've seen a lot more cyclists out,

especially riding these kind of commuter style bikes,

just to get to and from Wayne State,

downtown, New Center.

I think it's the best way to see Detroit because

you see so much more of the city's culture.

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It's right about that time.

Alright, Apollo Park bike riders, good evening.

- How we all doing tonight? - Alright! (applause)

Good to see everybody.

I appreciate all you guys coming and showing support.

- Left turn! - Left turn!

There's a community who understands that we put the

world on wheels, but there's other transportation

that also uses wheels.

What's up, little man?

Biking is fun.

It brings you closer to each other,

brings you closer to your environment and

to the neighbourhoods as well, so...

There's a good feeling of community coming back

to the city and it all ties in with biking as well.

(laughs)

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Detroit businesses are making real differences

in their communities.

Amy Peterson and her team at Rebel Nell are

teaching disadvantaged women to start over,

using pieces of Detroit's past.

We are headed to the Dequindre Cut.

Dequindre Cut is a bike path that was created on some

overgrown land, under some railroad tracks.

Over the past couple years they continue to expand it

and it's a great place to go walking and sort of enjoy

downtown and it's filled with all these incredible murals

that artists have done over the years.

I was running one day here and saw a piece of graffiti

that had fallen on the ground.

I picked it up and that's really what started the

process of thinking, how could I turn this

piece of fallen graffiti into, you know, wearable art.

Rebel Nell is a social enterprise here in Detroit

with the sole purpose of employing, educating,

and empowering women who are transitioning

out of homelessness.

We make jewelry out of fallen graffiti that we collect,

and we transform it into works of wearable art.

We thought, what if we could create a company

that would teach a woman to fish?

What does that look?

Where we could not only provide employment,

but all of the wrap around services they need

to transition into an independent life.

This is what we look for, layers.

It's hard to believe that, you know,

we can turn this into this. I mean, sometimes

we'll come down here and we'll have a giant, like,

just chunk that's just on the ground.

And that's just because Mother Nature said

it was time to come down.

We don't touch the graffiti until it actually

falls on the ground.

We have a lot of respect for the muralists and all the

artists out there that have created these

incredible pieces of art.

We usually wait 'til, you know, spring comes

and then go on a nice graffiti harvest just

as a team building event.

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Danielle's up to speed on everything, writing grants?

- Yep. - Okay.

My business partner and I both realized we had a

shared love of Eleanor Roosevelt.

She was an incredible humanitarian,

Civil Rights advocate, Women's Rights advocate.

And her nickname that her dad gave her was Little Nell,

and we thought she was worthy of a badass nickname,

plus, we're dealing with graffiti which is

rebellious in and of itself, so

that's how we got the name Rebel Nell.

For our newbies, just so you guys know,

really, really happy to have you as part of this family.

Do not be frustrated when you don't get the

jewelry making process right away.

It takes time, but you will get the hang of it.

Not a single person here, including myself,

had any concept of how to make jewelry

when we first started.

The women that we are employing have had

just a history of - whether it's physical,

emotional, financial - abuse of some sort.

These women left challenging situations in search of a

better opportunity, not only for themselves,

but for their families.

Thanks for the new team.

I won't see y'all that long.

(laughs)

I won't be here that long with y'all,

but y'all gonna have a lot of fun.

Azzie's next to graduate, just so you all know.

- Yeah, so... - She's been here the longest.

Yeah, moving out so some new women can move in and

experience Rebel Nell.

And y'all take all my new family.

But I'll be around and come cook y'all

some breakfast or something.

- Oh! - (laughs)

- Yeah! - (applause)

Building up their confidence is a major thing that we do here

and you can see that reflected in the jewelry,

and that gives her an outlet,

and how great does that feel when somebody buys something

that she had a vision for and poured her heart and soul into?

When we had our first graduate,

a year and a half after we started,

that was a really exciting moment where we were like,

"We have something here and this is really special."

(tools grinding)

Every single piece is one-of-a-kind.

We can't even replicate it if we want to because of

the unique cross-section of graffiti,

but also because of the woman who made it.

They have complete creative freedom to cut whatever

colour patterns and shapes speak to them.

And, as far as I know, you know,

we're one of the only people out there making jewelry

out of fallen graffiti so that makes us,

I think, a little unique.

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We're a Detroit business helping Detroiters,

but we're also making such a Detroit centric product.

You know, talk about the layers, like,

there's layers to our product, there's layers to our business.

It all really ties in and

everyone actually gets a piece of Detroit.

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(phone ringing)

Hey, Ron.

Yeah, this is what we're gonna do.

You're gonna print half of the fronts and then

Lavar is gonna print the other half,

and you guys are gonna heat press at the same time.

- Alright, yeah. - Alright.

Like Rebel Nell, community is key to everything that

Ron Waters does at One Custom City.

His screen printing business merges craft,

creativity, and the people who call the city home.

When I first meet entrepreneurs,

I tell them not to wait.

I say, "Get started now. Do it as fast as possible,"

because you don't want to be looking back 5 years,

and you're like, "I didn't do anything."

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Prior to this, I had zero experience printing.

Zero.

This is one of the first screens that I ever had.

This might be the first screen.

One Custom City formed after I actually started a

product design company called Side Design,

and it kind of happened out of a little bit of a necessity.

Friends and family couldn't afford, like,

my crazy expensive furniture, so it was like,

"Hey, you can buy this shirt for 20 bucks,"

and they're like, "Yeah, I can support you for 20;

I can't support you for $500 Japanese wall-mounted clock."

We'll do green and then do maybe the tips.

You can like actually force some ink, like,

into the, the screen.

You can get some different stuff going on.

Having a product development background,

there's not any projects that I'm like,

"Oh, I don't wanna print that. Get it out of here."

I'm like, "Hm, I've never printed on that before.

Maybe we can set up some type of fixture that could

actually work so that we can print that."

We're not just printing shirts or posters.

We're printing boxes that are pre-assembled,

we're printing on plastics, we're printing on glass.

Like, stuff that people are like,

"Oh, I don't wanna do that. You should talk to Ron."

And sometimes it's an epic failure and sometimes

they love what we're doing, but people really appreciate

the fact that we're willing to actually try.

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I always wanted to start a business,

but I knew I would come back to Detroit

for the simple fact I'm from here.

Detroit's very a knit community

that really steps up and like supports people.

In the 2,300 square feet of space we're in right now

that we recently purchased, where in LA,

in New York, doesn't exist.

It's amazing; that did hold a lot of detail with that white.

With the letters.

Ron offers a lot. It's not just a print shop.

It's a collaboration space.

It's like an organized hub of creatives here.

Everyone's trying to help each other out.

One Custom City even has a mentorship program.

We have 7 different folks that are working

at different capacities.

It takes about 6 months to like

get the hang of like the basics.

After that period we tackle like more advanced projects.

Everything is so computer driven these days and technology,

and you know, we're on our phone 90% of the day,

you know what I'm saying, so to get a break from that,

it's like a breath of fresh air for me.

People often times say, like,

"Yo, you're training all these people to basically be you."

And I'm like, "Yeah, ready, set, go."

Like, I'm already me, you know, so...

It's not like a competitive thing.

It's more like something where we can work together.

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This is usually a typical Friday.

The guys are like busy 'cause we got like

some last-minute project.

We go over to Screen Tek to go buy supplies,

just making it happen and keeping it moving.

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- That brush you had... - Yeah.

Worked really good. The guys like that.

- You got any more? - I do.

Alright, let me get some of those.

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Sometimes I think people are almost underwhelmed by,

like, what they expect from a business in Detroit that's,

you know, prided in Detroit,

that's of colour, sometimes.

And that's, you know, understandable,

but at the same time, that's not what I'm here,

like, facing.

I'm gonna give you, like, the best product,

no matter where you think you're getting it printed at.

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"We hope for better things;

it will arise from the ashes."

It's more than just the city's motto;

it's a call to action for Detroit's people.

Capitalizing on affordable rent,

support from fellow entrepreneurs,

and an eagerness to rise again,

local businesses are leading the charge

for the city's return.

The pride of being from Detroit is a really big thing,

and I think people love the fact that they're here...

'Cause Detroit sort of builds these bikes and

Detroit is really part of the product.

We'll always have to be here.

- Helicopter. - A helicopter.

You see the helicopter up in the sky?

Good eyes.

So much has changed here.

This sense that we're all in it together,

I think that that's a really important part of

the bigger comeback story of Detroit.

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Overall, I think Detroit's gonna be more out in the world.

Like, they might be jeans, they might be bikes,

they might be any of the above, you know,

but it's not just gonna be a car anymore.

And I think that that's good.

- Got something for ya. - Thank you.

I'm completely excited about living in Detroit,

being from Detroit, and creating something new.

While the city does have a tenacious otherworldly vibe,

it's these same qualities that fuel a raw urban energy

you won't find anywhere else.

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